2006 - UZ Leuven

We performed resection arthroplasty in seven cases to treat a chronicuncontrollable infection of the shoulder. Three patients had aninfected shoulder arthroplasty, one had an infected non-unitedarthrodesis, one was treated for an infected osteosynthesis, one hadan infected rotator cuff repair and one patient had a septic arthritis ofthe shoulder joint. All patients ware reviewed after a mean of 252days. The functional outcome was evaluated using the Constant andDASH score. C-Reactive Protein levels were determined to evaluatethe presence of residual infection.Except for one doubtful result, all our patients remained free ofinfection and there was excellent pain relief after the resection.Nevertheless, the functional outcome was poor: the mean Constantscore was 25.7 and the mean DASH score was 69.3.Resection arthroplasty of the shoulder is a valuable treatment optionfor infection of the shoulder, especially in older patients with a poormental and physical condition who suffer intolerable pain.DEGREEF I., DEBEER P.: Heterotopic ossification of the supraspinatustendon after rotator cuff repair: case report. Clin. Rheumatol., 2006; 25:251-253.Heterotopic ossifications of the shoulder are uncommon. Rarely, theseossifications are seen after open or even arthroscopic shouldersurgical procedures. Here, we report a patient who underwent arotator cuff repair, complicated with an axillary nerve paralysis.Postoperatively he developed substantial ossification of thesupraspinatus tendon. A review of the literature was done. To ourknowledge no other cases similar to this have been reported.DEGREEF I., DE SMET L.: Predictors of outcome in surgical treatmentfor basal joint osteoarthritis of the thumb. Clin. Rheumatol., 2006: 140-142.In this series, several preoperative factors influencing the outcome insurgically treated patients with carpometacarpal osteoarthritis of thethumb were analyzed. Thirty-six patients were studied. Handdominance, interphalangeal joint motion, radiographic stage, andsurgical procedure did not reach significance. In contrast, age, firstweb retraction, and hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal jointwere considered valuable in predicting the ultimate outcome.52